In Vitro Synergistic Antibacterial Activity of Amoxicillin and Ethanol Leaves Extract of Euphorbia hirta

Euphorbia hirta is a plant belonging to the family (Euphobiaceae). It is used in ethno medicine for the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery and other bacterial infections. This work was aimed at screening the phytochemical constituents and evaluating the in vitro combined effects of amoxicillin and ethanol leaves extract of Euphorbia hirta against clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonasa eruginosa, selmonella typhi, Clostridium botulinum and klebsiella pneumonia using broth micro-dilution and Checkerboard techniques. Phytochemical screening of the extract revealed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, glycosides, steroids and triterpenes. Euphorbia hirta exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) range 6.25 mg/mL to 25 mg/mL while Amoxicillin recorded MIC range10 mg/mL to 20 mg/mL against all test organisms. The susceptible antibiotics were used in the checkerboard technique, which was found to be useful for determining antibiotic synergism. The Fractional inhibitory concentration index (FIC) were 0.13, 0.25 and 0.50, this values indicates synergism while FIC value 1.00 for additive effect against the test organisms at 37?C over night incubation. The result of this study encourages the uses of Euphorbia hirta/amoxicillin combination for the treatment of bacterial infection.